The former president of Kenya Daniel Arap Moi has been ordered by the country’s High Court in Kenya to pay nearly $10m (£8m) to a family for illegally acquiring their 53-acre parcel of land 36 years ago.

Privately-owned newspaper Daily Nation says on 21 September, 1983, the former head of state ordered officials to register the land, owned by former chief Noah Kipngeny Chelugui, under his name.

The paper says Mr Moi then sold the land 24 years later to a company owned by the Jaswant Rai family.

Kenya’s leading TV station Citizen TV reported that the judge said the acquisition of the land was done in an “unlawful manner”, and “not worthy of any constitutional protection”.

In its ruling, the High Court in Eldoret in Kenya’s Rift valley region said Mr Moi’s action was unlawful and ordered both the former ruler and the Kenyan company Rai Plywood, linked to the Rai family, to pay Mr Chelugui’s family about $10m, which is the current market value of the land.

The former chief’s 85-year-old wife and son sued Mr Moi, Rai Plywood and other entities.